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Fourth Circuit Issues Key Decision Impacting Ethylene Oxide and Other Chemical-Exposure Claims

publication | September 8, 2025

In this article published by Washington Legal Foundation, Robert Johnston, Aleksandra Rybicki, and Sebastian Ovalle summarize the Fourth Circuit’s August 18, 2025, opinion in Sommerville v. Union Carbide Corp. reversing the district court’s grant of summary judgment and exclusion of expert witness testimony. The court concluded that a plaintiff has Article III standing to bring a no-injury medical monitoring claim under West Virginia law by only alleging exposure to a substance that could cause a future harm. The court also held that the reliability of data quality, as it relates to an expert’s methodology, is an issue of weight, not admissibility, despite recent revisions to Fed. R. Evid. 702. The opinion seemingly gives plaintiffs comfort knowing that there is standing for exposure claims and that their experts are more likely to survive a Rule 702 challenge.